You Ask, I Answer: Juicing

Is it healthier to have fruits as fresh juices or eat them as they come?
-- Mark

Many fitness buffs swear by juicing. I’m sure you’ve seen at least one late night infomercial where an 80-year-old with bundles of energy pitches a “revolutionary product” in which you insert an orange and an apple and just seconds later, voila, you have fresh juice!

These same people want you to believe that juicing is the absolute best way to get your nutrients. They’re wrong.

Although juicing will provide you with all the antioxidants (cancer-fighting compounds) in fruits, it lacks something very important – cholesterol-lowing and digestive-system-cleaning fiber.

(For clarification purposes, I am referring to juice you make by inserting a whole fruit into a juicer, not pre-packaged ‘juice drinks’ that are nutritional black holes).

Fruits hold a large portion of their fiber on their skins or peels, which you can not get in juice. Similarly, the fiber in an orange is found in the white strands that contain each individual orange segment. You certainly won’t be getting that in liquid form.

Additionally, if you are looking to maintain or lose weight, you are much better off eating an actual piece of fresh fruit than drinking its juice. Not only will the fiber in the whole fruit help make you feel full, you will also consume less calories.

For instance, 1 cup of apple slices provides 57 calories. A cup of apple juice? 120. The cup of apple slices would also give you 3 grams of fiber, whereas the juice has none.

If you are given the choice between regular or diet soda and fresh fruit juice, the latter is of course the best option. However, it falls short of being the nutritional powerhouse that is a whole fruit with all its components.